BILL NUMBER: SB 573 AMENDED
BILL TEXT
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 28, 1999
AMENDED IN SENATE APRIL 5, 1999
INTRODUCED BY Senator Alarcon
FEBRUARY 23, 1999
An act to add and repeal Article 5.7 (commencing with Section
44309) to Chapter 2 of Part 25 of the Education Code, relating to
teachers , and making an appropriation therefor.
LEGISLATIVE COUNSEL'S DIGEST
SB 573, as amended, Alarcon. Teachers: hard to staff schools.
(1) Existing
Existing law authorizes the Commission on Teacher
Credentialing to issue or renew emergency teaching or specialist
permits if the applicant possesses a baccalaureate degree, fulfills
certain subject matter requirements, and passes the state basic
skills proficiency test and the commission approves the justification
for the emergency permit submitted by the school district in which
the applicant is to be employed. Existing law requires the holder of
an emergency permit to participate in ongoing training, coursework,
or seminars designed to prepare the individual to become a fully
credentialed teacher or other educator in the subject area in which
he or she is assigned to teach or serve.
Existing law, the California Pre-Internship Teaching Program,
authorizes the Commission on Teacher Credentialing, as resources are
available to school districts, to issue a pre-intern teaching
certificate instead of an emergency multiple subjects permit to an
individual who meets the minimum requirements set by the commission
and, when resources remain after funding pre-interns pursuing a
multiple subject emergency credential, to issue a pre-intern teaching
certificate instead of an emergency single subject permit to an
individual who is employed by a school district approved by the
commission and meets the minimum requirements set by the commission.
Existing law establishes the California Beginning Teacher Support
and Assessment System for, among other purposes, providing an
effective transition into the teaching career for first-year and
second-year teachers, improving the educational performance of pupils
through improved training, information, and assistance for new
teachers, ensuring the professional success and retention of new
teachers, and ensuring that an individual induction plan is in place
for each participating beginning teacher and is based on an ongoing
assessment of the development of the beginning teacher.
This bill would impose a state-mandated local program by requiring
the Los Angeles County Office of Education to design and implement a
one-year telecommunications-based pilot project for the purpose of
offering an intensive professional growth program for teachers in
hard to staff schools. The pilot project would demonstrate the
efficacy of using an interactive, online, telecommunications-based
learning model that supports the Beginning Teacher Support and
Assessment Program and the California Pre-Internship Teaching
Program.
The bill would provide that first-year and second-year elementary
school teachers who are employed in hard to staff schools and
eligible to participate in the Beginning Teacher Support and
Assessment Program or the California Pre-Internship Teaching Program
are eligible to apply to participate in the pilot project.
Participants would receive academic credit. The bill would require
the Los Angeles County Office of Education, in partnership with the
California State University system, to develop the content of the
professional development offered by the pilot project. The bill
would require the California State University system, in
partnership with the Los Angeles County Office of Education
, to design and conduct an to contract for
an independent extensive evaluation of the pilot project
and to submit a report of the evaluation to the Legislature before
continuing or expanding the program .
The bill would appropriate $1,600,000 from the General Fund to the
Superintendent of Public Instruction for allocation to the Los
Angeles County Office of Education for purposes of implementing the
pilot project.
The California Constitution requires the state to reimburse local
agencies and school districts for certain costs mandated by the
state. Statutory provisions establish procedures for making that
reimbursement.
This bill would provide that no reimbursement is required by this
act for a specified reason.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: yes. Fiscal committee: yes.
State-mandated local program: yes.
THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF CALIFORNIA DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
SECTION 1. (a) The Legislature finds and declares all of the
following:
(1) There is a shortage of experienced qualified teachers in
schools that have been deemed hard to staff schools.
(2) Large numbers of the teachers at these schools currently have
temporary or emergency credentials.
(3) The pupils in these schools will benefit most from qualified
veteran credentialed teachers who bring the wisdom of years of
practical experience.
(b) Therefore, it is the intent of the Legislature in enacting the
act adding this section to accomplish all of the following:
(1) Enhance the ability of candidates for teaching credentials to
successfully complete their credentialing program.
(2) Train teachers for more effective service in hard to staff
schools.
(3) Retain teachers employed in hard to staff schools.
(4) Place special emphasis on teaching English learners.
(5) Utilize new technologies and distance learning techniques to
demonstrate program and cost-efficiencies in teacher training.
SEC. 2. Article 5.7 (commencing with Section 44309) is added to
Chapter 2 of Part 25 of the Education Code, to read:
Article 5.7. Telecommunications-Based Professional Development
Pilot Project for Teachers in Hard to Staff Schools
44309. (a) The Los Angeles County Office of Education shall
design and implement a one-year telecommunications-based pilot
project for the purpose of offering an intensive professional growth
program for teachers in hard to staff schools.
(b) The pilot project shall demonstrate the efficacy of using an
interactive, online, telecommunications-based learning model that
supports the professional development component of the Beginning
Teacher Support and Assessment Program set forth in Article 4.5
(commencing with Section 44279.1) and the California Pre-Internship
Teaching Program set forth in Article 5.6 (commencing with Section
44305).
(c) The pilot project shall use the technologies of
telecommunications-based distance learning, satellites for showing
promising practices and overcoming time and space barriers;
barriers, and videoconferencing for interactive
group work and materials sharing.
(d) First-year and second-year elementary school teachers who are
currently employed in a hard to staff school who are
and eligible to participate in the Beginning
Teacher Support and Assessment Program set forth in Article 4.5
(commencing with Section 44279.1) or the California Pre-Internship
Teaching Program set forth in Article 5.6 (commencing with Section
44305) are eligible to apply to participate in the pilot project, for
which they shall receive academic credit.
(e) The Los Angeles County Office of Education, in partnership
with the California State University system, shall develop the
content of the professional development offered by the pilot project,
which shall be aligned with the California Standards for the
Teaching Profession.
(f) The California State University system, in partnership with
the Los Angeles County Office of Education, shall design and conduct
an extensive
(f) The Los Angeles County Office of Education shall contract for
an independent extensive evaluation of the pilot project to
determine the extent to which the project helped to retain
participants in the teaching profession, reduced costs of providing
professional development to new teachers assigned to hard to staff
schools, improved the classroom management skills of new teachers,
and improved pupil learning. The Los Angeles County Office of
Education shall submit a report of the evaluation to the Legislature
before continuing or expanding the program.
(g) For purposes of this article, a "hard to staff school" is a
school in which 20 percent of the teachers assigned to provide
instructional services at the school are serving under an internship
, emergency permit, or waiver granted by the Commission on
Teacher Credentialing or have served less than two years.
(h) This article shall remain in effect only until January 1, 2002,
and as of that date is repealed, unless a later enacted statute,
that is enacted before January 1, 2002, deletes or extends that date.
SEC. 3. There is hereby appropriated the sum of one million six
hundred thousand dollars ($1,600,000) from the General Fund to the
Superintendent of Public Instruction for allocation to the Los
Angeles County Office of Education for the purposes of implementing
the Telecommunications-Based Professional Development Pilot Project
for Teachers in Hard to Staff Schools as set forth in Article 5.7
(commencing with Section 44309) of Chapter 2 of Part 25 of the
Education Code.
SEC. 4. No reimbursement is required by this act pursuant to
Section 6 of Article XIIIB of the California Constitution because the
only costs that may be incurred by a local agency or school district
are the result of a program for which legislative authority was
requested by that local agency or school district, within the meaning
of Section 17556 of the Government Code and Section 6 of Article
XIIIB of the California Constitution.